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Friday, July 31, 2015

The editors are delighted to confirm a bumper 56-page issue of Talking
Bull will mark its return to Edgar Street after an absence of seven years on Saturday 8 August.Supporters will be able to get their hands on the re-designed fanzine ahead of Hereford Football Clubs first match in the MFL against Dunkirk FC.The all new Talking Bull will be in full colour throughout and is
packed from cover to cover thanks to the many, many supporters who have
contributed over the last couple of months.

A number of familiar writers have returned to the fold including
‘Yokel’ whose topical cartoons will once again feature, but we welcome a
number of fans who have written for the magazine for the very first
time.

Talking Bull will retail at £2.50 for the printed version but if you
are unable to visit Edgar Street for the match, or reside outside of the
UK why not consider subscribing.

Our postal subscription rates are split geographically into 3 seperate categories; UK, European and Rest of the World. Talking Bull subscriptions are based on an eight-issue cycle, however
you will be advised prior to this period ending in order that you can
renew.

We are offering UK subscribers a cost-price deal at £20 for 8 issues, and this includes postage!

For European subscribers 8 issues will cost £25, whilst an 8-issue
subscription for our Rest of The World supporters will cost £35.

Please state at the checkout which issue you’d like your subscription
to start from and whether it is a new subscription or a
re-subscription. Once you have signed up you will receive a reminder
when your subscription is about to expire. You will also need to include your full name, address and post-code
when taking out an online subscription for a printed edition.

Once activated TB subscriptions are non refundable.

The cover price of a printed version is £2.50 with the magazine being
sold on match days, with additional stocks being made available via the
club shop, and behind the bars in Addisons and Radfords.

Additional stockists across the county of Herefordshire will be
listed in due course, however please get in touch with us if your
business would like to stock the best fanzine in the West Midlands via
our email address: editor@talkingbull.org

Tony Clifford-Jones is expected to resign from the HUST board at the forthcoming AGM. His departure will come on top of several other board members recently leaving.

There will be elections to the Board at the AGM in September. It's expected that there will be five places to fill.

Originally it had been hoped that the board would consist of nine members, but it's been quite difficult to recruit people to get involved.

Last week HUST gave details of the other departing board members

It was noted that both Paul Stevens and Mick Loader had resigned from
the Board due to other business commitments. Rob Purdie likewise but for
footballing reasons. Mitch Stansbury would be standing down as the
London Bull representative at the AGM. Chris Oleksy would also be
standing down but would continue to run the Fans Team.

Heanor Town have signed two goalkeepers with former Lions player Damian Clark rejoining the club after three years away, and Scott Whittingham joining from Step 7 side Belper United. Coleshill Town have added Dave Haywood to their management team. Haywood replaces coach Ross Thorpe, with assistant boss Gareth Palmer having missed much of pre-season due to his work commitments.

Dale Hodge has signed for Step 7 side AFC Ludlow alongside his brother Aaron. Hodge started last season at Ludlow before switching to Kington mid-season. Sam Pearson played for Pegasus Juniors as they lost 2-1 to Monmouth Town last night. Dan McDonald played for Monmouth with ex-Bull Nick Harrhy netting for them.

Clevedon Town are in danger of being wound up after being thrown out of the Southern League. They were demoted due to ground grading issues relating to their floodlights, with the company that 'owned' the club going bust shortly after. The owner of their ground has offered to take over the club but has now spent three months trying to secure the club without success, leading to the danger that the club will have to fold before the Wessex League season begins.

Club Historian Ron Parrott has recently received the sad news of the passing away of former United player Roy Smith. Ron remembers him well from 1961/62, his only season at Edgar Street. His complete pen-pic is as follows:-

Born Rawalpindi (India) 19th March 1936 to English parents. Died Sydney, Australia 14th April 2015.

Roy was a gifted inside-forward and was signed by West Ham in the summer of 1955 after being “spotted” playing for Woodford Youth Club as a youngster.

He played six Football League games for the Upton Park side and scored one goal but his contract was not renewed at the end of the 1956/57 season and he emigrated to Australia with his parents. Roy returned to the UK in 1960 and signed for Hereford in the summer of 1961. Roy had a respectable return of 14 goals from 28 games for United before being transferred to Portsmouth for £3,000 in January 1962.

Sadly, his career with Pompey was curtailed when he suffered a badly broken leg and had to retire from the game after only eight games and three goals for them and he returned to join his parents in Australia.

Fans will be able to collect pre-purchased Stourport tickets at the same time as collecting Dunkirk tickets. However Stourport tickets will not be available to purchase at this time.

IN PERSON

At 5pm after the Dunkirk game (Saturday 8th August) tickets will be available to purchase from the ticket office window next to the players entrance. There will be no face-to-face sales at any other times.

PLEASE NOTE

– There will be no ticket collections for either the Dunkirk of Stourport game on the day of the Hull City game as we focus our attentions on Hull match tickets and Season Ticket collections.

– Any sales before 5pm Thursday will be available for collection when the ticket office is open on Friday.

– Sales until 5pm Monday will be available for Tuesday’s opening.

– Sales online for Dunkirk will close at midnight on the 7th, they will be available for collection on the day.

– Last post for Stourport is August 6th. Any orders after Noon on August 6th will be collection only.

Tickets
will be available for collection from Edgar Street at advertised times
or can be posted via Recorded Delivery. Last posting date Thursday
August 6th. Tickets are for ground admission only. Seating may be
available on a first come, first served basis.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Newport's Supporters Trust says its membership has grown from 324 members to just over 500 since being gifted shares by former club owner Les Scadding. The Trust are aiming to raise between £300,000 and £500,000 to meet debts and provide working capital, and say they will not be able to proceed if they do not raise this money.

Darlington's move back to the town is in doubt after talks to move into Darlington RFC's ground stalled. The football club withdrew from negotiations after deadlock over agreements on commercial and retail aspects of the shared stadium, with doubts raised over the rugby club's finances after several years of steady losses.

Exeter have opted to waive their right to a half share of gate receipts from Friday's planned friendly at Torquay. The Gulls did the same to the Grecians 12 years ago during their financial issues. Rod McDonald is to sign for Northampton Town on a one year deal, subject to a medical. The 23 year old had been on trial at Sixfields for most of the past month.Cory Williams has joined Colwyn Bay, joining fellow ex-Bull Chris Sharp at the Evo-Stick Northern Premier club. The teenager recently trialled with FC United of Manchester and was reported to be interesting Southport. Keith Downing has been appointed as the coach of the England u20 side, having left West Brom in January following a coaching reshuffle.

United
in the Community (UITC) the provider of the official player pathway
into Hereford FC have today appointed Laura Davies as Football
Development Officer.

Laura joins UITC from Wolves Community Trust
where she was Premier League School Sport Coordinator developing a
number a programmes for school children throughout Wolverhampton. Originally
from Hereford she began coaching at Hereford Sixth Form College before
stints assisting the Herefordshire Football Association and abroad, on a
number of various placements. A keen footballer herself Laura has also
been coaching the Wolves Under 11s Girls Team. Laura will
predominantly be overseeing the Football Development Centre, the Schools
Programme and assisting with coaching UITC’s Academy Teams. Commenting on her new role, Laura Davies said: “I’m
looking forward to joining the team and providing more opportunities to
those in the community. I feel as though this is an exciting time for
everyone after recent events at Hereford FC and as a local myself, I
couldn’t be happier to be involved” Steve Brotherwood, Community Manager, said: “I
am delighted to have Laura on board at UITC. Her wealth of knowledge
around Community Engagement, especially within her experiences of
working with primary schools and community groups will enable us to take
our programmes to the next level. “ Justin Ratcliffe, Trustee for Education, said: “Laura
has a strong football CV. She is joining us at an exciting time and
brings with her some great experience of working alongside top coaches
at Wolves“ Nicholas Vaughan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, said: "We
had over 30 applicants for this position and Laura stood out amongst
our selection panel for her strong track record with schools engagement
at Wolves coupled with her family roots to Hereford."

He added:
"I would like to thank our Community Manager Steve Brotherwood, Tutor
Adam Jones and Trustee Justin Ratcliffe for running a very thorough and
professional recruitment process." Laura starts work with UITC on Wednesday August 26th.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Hereford made the trip to The Meadow tonight for the last away match of pre season.Peter Beadle brought attacking duo John Mills and Pablo Haysham in to the starting line and Tony James was made captain. Trialist Dean Lee started while other trialist Sirdic Adjei-Grant was named on the bench. Joel Edwards missed out with sore right ribs and Nathan Summers was not risked due to a slight ankle injury.

Brimscombe started the game well with some early play before Hereford grew in to the game and began to control the match. Hereford started to threat with Mills and Haysham linking up well and Wheatley threatening down the wing. Hereford opened the scoring when Haysham volleyed in a well delivered cross from Kontic-Coveney.

1-0 Hereford

Hereford carried on threatening Brimscombe with Wheatley being the most dangerous as the Brimcombe defence struggled to handle him and allowed him to get a few dangerous crosses in to the box. Hereford fans began to see glimpses of the threat that Mills and Haysham will hopefully bring this season as they both started to play off each. The new strike force linked up for Hereford's second goal as Mills broke into the box before turning a defender and delivering a cross that was finished at the back post by Haysham sliding the ball in to the back of the net.

Pablo makes it 2 for Hereford and himself

Mills came close to getting on the score sheet as he broke wide after a pass from Haysham only for a defender to block his chance. Hereford's third came not long after when Wheatley again sprinted down the wing beating a defender before hitting a 'Sol' destroying shot that beat the Brinscombe goalkeeper.

Mills is denied

Sol turns away after putting Hereford 3-0 up

Hereford continued to threaten Brimscombe with both Mills and Haysham threatening down the middle and Wheatley looking dangerous down the wing but Hereford were unable to increase the lead.

It wasn't all one way traffic in the first half, Brimscombe did threaten Hereford but Rivers and the defence dealt with it. Brimscombe's best chance came as they broke through before Rivers rushed off his line and used his body to take the ball from the player as he tried go aroundthe Hereford keeper.

The first half came to a close with many fans complementing the way Hereford played and with some excited of what might come from Mills and Haysham.

Half Time: Brimscombe and Thrupp 0-3 Hereford

Brimscombe started the second half well and pulled a goal back early on as they managed to get past the defence before beating Rivers as he rushed out. Hereford came in to the second half after the goal with Wheatley breaking down the wing before playing in Mills who delivered a cross which was headed wide by a defender. Mills kept trying to get himself on the score sheet and he came close with a chip that beat the keeper only for it go over the goal. He finally got on the score sheet when he latched on to a pass beating a Brimscombe player before racing in to the box and slotting the ball past the Brimscombe goalkeeper.

Mills get's away before racing in to the box

Mills celebrating his goal

Hereford continued to threaten with Haysham cutting in to the box before firing a shot that was well saved by the goalkeeper. Mills had two good chances to put Hereford ahead but he was unable to get a shot away as he took the ball around the goalkeeper before it was put out. He then broke in to the box a few minutes later forcing a good save by the goalkeeper with his leg.

Mills get his shot away

Brimscombe's second came as they were able to get past Hereford's defence and finish well. Apart from the two goals Brimscombe didn't really create much in the second half. Youth player Carlos Moreira came on forHereford late on before Mills was able to get another shot on goal but it was saved by the keeper.

Winger Sam Oxley scored a double hat-trick for Hereford FC's under 18's in this evening's friendly against Barry Town played at Cardiff University's Meadows.

Oxley scored Hereford's first goal, which might have taken a slight deflection, on seven minutes.

Two more followed on 14 and 16 minutes respectively.

Barry got one back early in the second half but Oxley was unlucky to make it four when his shot hit the top of the cross-bar.

Oxley Lifts The Ball Over The On-rushing Keeper

He soon made amends with number four, a dink over the keeper, on 70 minutes. Five and six followed shortly afterwards.

After the final whistle manager Steve Brotherwood spoke to BN.

"If we are being critical we probably didn't take enough chances.

"I know we scored six but it could have been double figures.

"I thought Sam was good. Obviously the lad scored all six so he can't have had that bad a game.

"It must be some sort of a record."

Manager Brotherwood Felt Matt Macdonald Was 'Probably The Best Player Not To Score'

The victory was all the more creditable given the Barry side were under 19's and the Hereford squad were without Carlos Moreira who travelled with the first team to Brimscombe and several others due to holidays or injuries.

Youth teamer Carlos Moreira is in the Bulls squad that travels to Brimscombe and Thrupp for the last away friendly tonight.

The youngster almost joined Coventry City back in February but stayed with UITC and had a short spell with Wellington to gain first team experience towards the end of last season.

Meanwhile Adam Page, who is reported to be set to sign a loan deal at Edgar Street, played an hour for Cheltenham Town as a second string side drew with Bishops Cleeve last night. Page started on the bench but came on inside ten minutes due to injury.Admission to Brimscombe is £5 Adults and £3 Concessions with Under 16's free. There is free car parking onsite with passengers expected to pay their admission fee on entry to the car park.

Hartwell Hereford have kindly sponsored a kit van for Hereford FC kitman Roger Lloyd to use for the coming season. The van, complete with a football theme that was designed by Rachel Philo and Emma Malsom, will be used to transport all the training accessories and kit to and from training.

Roger receiving the van from John Wallace. Pic - Rachel Philo.

As part of their sponsorship, Hartwell Hereford are also running a competition with three pairs of hospitality tickets up for grabs.

The tickets – for the first competitive game at Edgar Street at the start of August – include pre-match hospitality, including food, drink and assisting in selecting the Man Of The Match.

One of the winners will also win the use of a new FORD KUGA for a weekend arranged near to the date of the game.

To enter the competition all you have to do is visit Hartwell Hereford and take a test drive in any new or used car and fill in an entry form available from Hartwell Hereford. The competition will end on Saturday the 1st August with the draw taking place the following Monday.

The Board of Hereford FC and the HUST Board are pleased to announce that HUST Treasurer Mike Langford has been appointed to the Hereford FC Board as the third HUST Director of the Club.

Mike’s appointment was ratified by the Hereford FC Board last week with the necessary paperwork due to be filed at Companies House. He joins HUST Chairman Chris Williams and Vice Chairman Martin Watson on the football club board.

Mike worked for Lloyds Bank for 37 years and came to Hereford in 1988 to run the Business Centre. Mike spent the last 14 years as Senior Manager for Lloyds Corporate Banking, looking after the larger corporate businesses before retirement.

Speaking about his appointment Mike says he is keen to encourage supporter involvement at Edgar Street: “I think it is important that this club is run on a sound financial footing with as much supporter involvement as possible. This is a community focussed club and I’m pleased to see that we are all pulling in the same direction to make the club successful again.”

Dunkirk FC are the visitors to Edgar Street for Hereford FC's first home League game of the season on August 8th.

They have posted the following information:

Tickets now on sale.

Tickets
are now on sale for the opening league fixture of the season between
Hereford FC and Dunkirk. Please note that this is an all ticket game so
you will not be able to pay on the gate. Ticket prices are listed
below:-
Adults £8
Concessions £7
Kids £3
Please use the below link for purchasing tickets for the game. I would
advise that this is done a.s.a.p as the home ends of the stadium is
selling out fast.http://buytickets.at/herefordfc/
A coach will be leaving Dunkirk Football Club at 10:30am on the morning
of the game. The price to travel on the coach is £10. Payment needs to
be made a.s.a.p as seats are on a first come first served basis.
To book your coach please give the money to Philip Allen or if you have
any questions please don't hesitate to contact him on 07748478996 or
email philipallen1982@hotmail.co.uk

Hereford FC is delighted to announce that matchday mascot packages for the 2015/16 season are now available.The mascot package gives
youngsters the chance to meet the players and management staff when
visiting the dressing room ahead of the game, before then leading
Hereford FC onto the field alongside the team captain.The mascot will then pose
for a photo with the match officials and the two captains before taking a
seat in the stand to enjoy the game.The price of the mascot
package for 2015/16 is £125 to include a full home kit and four adult
match tickets (in addition to the one for the mascot) or the equivalent.Alternatively, if the mascot already has the full kit, the price of the package will be £75.Although in normal
circumstances we will only take one booking for a mascot package for a
game, for our first Midland Football League fixture (on August 8th) we are taking up to
eleven bookings for such a momentous occasion. Three of these eleven
places are already booked up, so please get in quickly if you want to be
included as part of the first competitive fixture.If you would like to know more about the mascot package for any Hereford FC home fixture, please e-mail commercial@herefordfc.co.uk, or call 01432 268 257.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Hereford FC play their next friendly at Brimscombe and Thrupp on Tuesday evening with a 7.45pm kick-off.

Clive Baker is the chairman of Brimscombe and Thrupp FC and he has kindly given BN some details about the fixture

Brimscombe's Pitch

'Tuesday night sees our club Brimscombe and Thrupp FC play the second
of our prestigious friendlies, this one against Hereford FC. Last Saturday saw us
play Forest Green Rovers from the Conference Premier League and somehow
we conjured a 1 – 0 victory. Tuesday night’s game against Hereford will
be the first meeting for the clubs, and our supporters and players
cannot wait to show them the friendly welcome and hospitality when they
visit us.

'We currently play our football in the Hellenic Premier League
which is step 5 football and our club now boasts a new stand and new
floodlights, we also have a fully stocked bar and food is available
including a burger and kebab van in our car park which has ample parking
space for our spectators. The ground itself is set in a bowl and is
considered to be one of the most idyllic settings in the county and
fantastic viewing.

'Directions to the ground are straightforward
as from Gloucester you head towards Stroud then from Stroud take the
A419 towards Cirencester. Approx. 3 miles out of Stroud you will see the
pitch on the right-hand side just after the village of Thrupp.

'If
there are coaches they can park in the layby on the opposite side of
the ground as they might be slightly too big to get in our gate
but for cars parking on the ground is plentiful. For those who like a
beer there is a good pub (The Ship) in Brimscombe or in the football
club itself.'

The Sat-Nav is GL5 2SH Entry prices are £5 Adults, £3 Concessions, and free for Under 16s.

The Non-League Paper is reporting that The Midlands League has set up a special working party to advice its clubs how to handle big gates when they play Hereford FC at Home.

The new Bulls were watched by around 2,000 fans when they played their first game, a friendly at Malvern Town.

Many of the Midland Premier clubs do not even attract a tenth of that gate for their home games.

Stourports Swift general manager and treasurer John McDonald said he has been told that Hereford could bring a similar number of fans to Walshes Meadow for the new club's first-ever away league game on August 11th.

The fact that Hereford are just 30 miles away and the game will be played during the school holidays, while many of the clubs staff are away, have compounded his fears that Stourport will struggle to cope on the night.

"They are in the wrong league," said McDonald who has notified the Football Association, Worcester FA, and local police over his fears.

But league chairman Mike Joiner said "we have set up a working party to advise the 21 clubs before their home games against Hereford take place, and we look at each case on an individual basis. I'm sure in some cases it won't be needed. We are giving Hereford the chance to climb up the Pyramid. It is brilliant for everyone."

The FA said the new Hereford were placed at an appropriate level in accordance with current National League System regulations.

Hereford FC manager Peter Beadle is yet to decide whether to sign a second keeper.

Reece Lovitt is currently on trial with the club and has put in some decent performances but Beadle has questioned whether his budget can justify back up to Harvey Rivers who signed as number one keeper several weeks ago.

"Hopefully Harvey will stay fit and to carry another keeper sometimes is an expense you could do without," Beadle told BN.

"You could probably take one on loan if and when the option occurs.

"Reece has come in and done great.

"He's looks comfortable and competent.

"We will keep an eye on him and see what he does."

Meanwhile Beadle's budget has been slightly increased partly to help with the signing of strikers John Mills and Pablo Haysham.

Luckily for the club they live within a couple of miles of each other and that will keep their travelling costs down.

And, probably on the back of the new signings, interest in season tickets continues with another twenty being sold yesterday.

Hereford FC made the short trip across the city to Old School Lane for another pre-season friendly. Manager Peter Beadle was back in the dug out following a short break that saw Matt Bishop take charge on Tuesday at Wellington. New signings John Mills and Pablo Haysham began life on the bench with two other new faces joining the squad. Harpbury student Siddiq Grant started in midfielder and Dean Lee was named on the bench. Lee is thought to be a former Monmouth and Westfields midfielder. Callum Craddock who played against Wellington on Tuesday was named on the Pegasus bench and Dan MacDonald appears to have left the club and returned to Monmouth. It is not known if Jamie Gregory and Sam Hunt have left or whether they were left out of the squad today.

Dale Hodges Receiving Treatment From Physio Jony Evans

The game started very scrappily with Dale Hodges going down early on following a strong tackle from a Pegasus player. Hereford began to threaten with Adam Page attempting to get a shot away but it was blocked by a defender. Nathan Hughes was next to threaten after he got past a defender, only to put his effort wide. Hereford continued to pile the pressure on with Dylan Bonella playing Rob Purdie in only for him to fire it over the Pegasus goal.

The Bulls opened the scoring when Page fired a shot that was half saved by the goalkeeper, however he was unable to prevent it rolling in to the net.

Page Lines Up His Second Goal

Two minutes later Page was again on the score sheet after hitting a shot from just outside the area beating the keeper and in to the bottom left corner. Hereford had a few more shots before the end of half without beating the keeper, the best of them fell to Hughes who had a great chance to make it 3-0 when he broke in to the box only to hit his shot wide.

Keeper Relieved That Hughes' Shot Went Wide

The first half wasn't all one way traffic as Pegasus did manage to get a few shots that were saved by Lovett and they managed to get a couple of potential dangerous crosses in to the Hereford box only to be dealt with by the defence.Half time: Pegasus Juniors 0-2 Hereford

The second half started slowly and appeared to be a different tempo than the first with most of the early action taking place in the middle of the park. Hereford did have a free kick on the 55th minute, however Hodge hit it high and over the goal. The action did seem to heat up half way through the second half when a tackle from King wasn't well received by the Pegasus player and led to a heated confrontation. It was unclear at first whether the referee had sent both players off, however he asked for both players to be substituted for a cooling down before they were allowed to return to the pitch later on. The anticipation levels rose a minute late when Beadle gave fans the first glimpse of John Mills and Pablo Haysham.

John Mills Had A Couple Of Half Chances

The game started to pick up with Sam Pearson hitting a free kick wide of the Pegasus goal before good link up play between Haysham and Mills led to Mills coming close to scoring on his debut, only to see the Pegasus keeper tip his effort on to the crossbar.

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